Social Studies Column

About 2,000 social-studies educators--fewer than expected--were in
Boston last week for the annual meeting of the National Council for the
Social Studies. School budget cuts, plus reluctance to miss
Thanksgiving dinner, probably contributed to the low attendance,
council officials say.

Julian Bond, the Georgia state senator and civil-rights activist who
delivered the Gould Memorial Lec-ture at the convention, focused his
remarks on the effects of federal budget cuts, recounting what are in
his view their negative social consequences nationwide.

Civil rights, Mr. Bond said, have suffered the gravest damage under
the Reagan Administration. The Administration's actions have "limited
and narrowed" the prospects for women and minorities, he said. Health
and social services have sustained setbacks that are nearly as severe,
he added, while defense continues to flourish.

And what about education, a member of the audience asked during the
question-and-answer period that followed the speech. Why didn't Mr.
Bond discuss those budget cuts?

"I shall, and I generally do," he replied. "But I didn't think I'd
have to tell the victims what happened."

Another teacher wondered what he should say to a student who
reported that his family was better off under this Administration than
it had been under previous ones.

"Some of them haven't added up the pluses and minuses," Mr. Bond
said. "To them, I think you can only say, 'Bully for you."'

But, he suggested, one could also remind the student that those who
are less fortunate might eventually vent their frustrations against the
affluent youth. "I'd tell him, 'Watch your back,"' Mr. Bond said.

In an effort to clarify and better define the social studies, an ncss
task force has begun work on a document that will outline a recommended
"scope and sequence" for social-studies courses taught in elementary
and secondary schools.

According to a survey conducted earlier this year, social-studies
educators would welcome such a document, although they would prefer
that it be a catalogue of options, not a mandate, according to Jan L.
Tucker of Florida International University in Miami, one of several
speakers who described the effort.

Unlike previous attempts to formulate such guidelines, which
speakers described as unsuccessful, the new document will speak
directly to the practicing professional in elementary and secondary
schools.

To date, the task force has developed a tentative outline that the
"scope and sequence" document will follow. It is expected to be short,
and will include a definition of the social studies--something that
none of its predecessors has provided adequately, according to the
speakers.

Other topics to be covered in the scope and sequence document
include: the goals of the discipline, its scope as defined by grade
level, the "values component" of social studies, the skills that should
be taught, teaching modes and strategies, and recent research findings
on brain development and learning.

Although energy education no longer receives the federal funding that
fueled its growth over the past 10 or so years, private funds and new
coalitions are likely to keep the momentum going, according to John
Fowler, who directs the energy and education project for the National
Science Teachers Association.

Among teachers and administrators, the interest in energy education
remains strong, Mr. Fowler told delegates to the ncss meeting.

In a survey conducted earlier this year, the organizers of the
energy project discovered that 58 percent of the elementary-school
teachers and 52 percent of the secondary-school science teachers
surveyed were spending an average of eight hours each year teaching
about energy. This indicates, Mr. Fowler said, that teachers are
"infusing" energy concepts into the curriculum.

The survey clearly suggests, he added, that energy education isn't
likely to vanish with the federal funds. "It's got an identification.
In spite of the fact that the federal push is gone, it's still there at
the grass-roots level. I think that what we're seeing is fertile ground
still untilled. My hope is that the grass-roots strength can keep
things going. I was quite discouraged when the big political changes
happened, but now I am quite encouraged in the other direction. I think
that energy education can continue and grow."

In 1962, the actor and film director Sir Richard Attenborough read a
biography of Mohandas K. Gandhi. Since then, he says, all of his career
decisions have been made with an eye toward eventually directing a film
biography of Gandhi. The 3-hour film that resulted from Mr.
Attenborough's fixation will be released shortly, and social-studies
teachers will be among the main targets of the film's publicity.

Officials of Columbia Pictures, which is releasing the film,
acknowledge that they are distributing a promotional filmstrip,
cassette, and other educational materials to encourage more people to
see the movie.

But, they point out, the film is a historically accurate account of
Gandhi's life and of a critical period in India's history. And they
believe its themes can be linked to such U.S. developments as the
nuclear-freeze movement and the civil-rights struggle.--sw

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